Free NCL internet all I need for phone calls?

[deek72]

You can also call home 'from the comfort of your own cabin'. A steal at only $4.99 per minute. 

[bobh002]

On 9/29/2021 at 6:49 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

I believe that all I need to be reachable in emergencies while cruising NCL is the 250 minutes of NCL “free” internet and my phone enabled for WiFi calling.  I will turn off the cellular upon boarding (Airplane mode).  Will I then be able to just activate my NCL free internet promo a couple times a day to allow my phone to receive any phone messages?  Can I then turn off the consumption of my free internet minutes but leave the WiFi on to still use the NCL app?  NCL’s website has a lot of words about options for making and receiving phone calls but at this point I don’t believe I need to worry about any of them.  Thanks for sharing any recent experiences. 

Once in Bermuda, depending on what carrier you use, you can just use cellular. T-mobile is free to use, Verizon and ATT have a travel pass package for $10 a day while in Bermuda and you can use cellular, data and texting. Check with your carrier to be sure. 

[LAWTONCRUISE]

Reference phone calls at sea. Just did some checking today. If you put your phone on airplane mode, then turn wifi back on and have wifi calling enabled you should be able to make calls using your "free" 250 minutes (1000MB) on NCL. I read that a standard phone call uses about 1MB per minute and a facetime type call about 5MB per minute so you have to be aware of how long you talk. If you plan to spend a lot of phone time at sea you might think about upgrading but in my case that should be plenty. 

[BirdTravels]

3 hours ago, LAWTONCRUISE said:

Reference phone calls at sea. Just did some checking today. If you put your phone on airplane mode, then turn wifi back on and have wifi calling enabled you should be able to make calls using your "free" 250 minutes (1000MB) on NCL. I read that a standard phone call uses about 1MB per minute and a facetime type call about 5MB per minute so you have to be aware of how long you talk. If you plan to spend a lot of phone time at sea you might think about upgrading but in my case that should be plenty. 

Incorrect. Streaming ports (including those used for wi-fi calling) are blocked on the cheap and free plan. You need streaming service to make wi-fi call. And that is only sold as an upgrade to the unlimited premium wi-fi plan. 

[LAWTONCRUISE]

Thanks for you input. I think I got my info from cruise.com (not exactly sure since I was doing a lot of research.) 

 

However, this is from a cruisecritic article on "Norwegian Cruise Line Internet Packages and Prices"  It states,

 

 Additionally, if you have Wi-Fi calling enabled on your cellphone and have purchased an internet package, you can use that to make phone calls for free.

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=3243

 

It didn't say anything about additional streaming service, but hey,  I guess I'll find out on the cruise. 

   

Edited October 17, 2021 by LAWTONCRUISE

[Turtles06]

50 minutes ago, LAWTONCRUISE said:

It didn't say anything about additional streaming service, but hey,  I guess I'll find out on the cruise. 

 

I think you will find out that @BirdTravels is correct.  NCL blocks the ports needed for WiFi calling unless you have the expensive streaming package.  That was the case for us just before the pandemic.

[LAWTONCRUISE]

Thanks for your response. Well,  I suppose I'll just use my phone on shore then. Looks like the "free" internet isn't such a good deal after all,  like everything else in the "free at sea" there's always a catch.  I saw where the "free" drinks and dining have an added gratuity of $308 dollars. Since we don't drink alcohol and seldom eat in the specialty restaurants I declined both. I do plan on using the shore excursion credit though. 

[MoCruiseFan]

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